16 Head Start Sites Share $3 Million for Services for Homeless

WASHINGTON--Sixteen Head Start programs have been awarded grants to
help them develop strategies for serving homeless preschool children
and families.

The $3 million in grants, announced this month by Secretary of
Health and Human Services Donna E. Shalala, is intended to help Head
Start programs enroll homeless children who are not now being served
and to offer specialized services more "responsive'' to their
needs.

Craig Turner, the chief of the program-management and operations
branch of the Head Start Bureau, acknowledged that the amount of money
involved represents a "fairly modest effort.''

But, he added, "we felt there might be a much bigger payoff if we
could not only get services to homeless families, but make some of the
information learned from this process available to other
grantees.''

Head Start--which offers educational, health, and other support
services to disadvantaged preschoolers and their families--already
reaches some homeless children.

But the Head Start Bureau of the Health and Human Services
Department wanted to more fully address concerns "about the
vulnerability of kids that are in homeless families and the extent to
which Head Start programs are able to meet their needs,'' Mr. Turner
said.

Adrienne Bigmon, a Head Start specialist in the department's
Administration for Children, Youth, and Families, said former Secretary
of Health and Human Services Louis H. Sullivan initially championed the
idea. Among other strategies, she said, Dr. Sullivan convened several
interagency groups to explore ways to better serve homeless
families.

The grant competition was launched in May.

Extended Hours, Services

The programs chosen were awarded from $140,000 to $200,000 for the
first year of what will be three-year projects.

The awards will allow some programs to enroll more homeless children
and others to begin serving them for the first time, said Ms. Bigmon. A
major goal is to find successful strategies that other programs can
replicate, she added.

Most of the grantees will expand their programs by one or two
classrooms to serve from 20 to 30 homeless children, but one will serve
65.

Besides adding homeless children, many programs will extend their
hours, work with other agencies to provide full-day services, and
increase their staff-child ratios, Ms. Bigmon said. Most also have
developed ties with local homeless shelters.

Applicants for the grants also had to describe how they would meet
the special health and mental-health needs of participants and "respond
to the needs of homeless parents in areas such as housing, employment,
parenting skills, and social supports.''

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